Work Hard & Play Hard

I have missed a few weeks posting due to some long work weeks. I focused on getting in my workouts around my job and it left no time for basically anything else.

I managed to have a great first week and then the long workdays slowly caught up to me and I listened to my body. By the third week, I was heading into my half marathon and wanted to give my body a chance to rest to have a good race.

Jan 5-11
Running: T 5 mi, Th 4 mi, S 9 mi
Cycling: M 10.6 mi, W 10.55 mi, Su 13 mi
Swimming: T 1200 m, S 1600m
*Missed my swim Thursday cause I forgot my suit, otherwise a perfect week!

Jan 12-18
Running: W 3.1 mi, Th 5 mi, S 7.8 mi
Cycling: W 9 mi, Su 15.3 mi
Swimming: S 1600m

Jan 19-25
Running: Th 5.2 mi, S 13.1 mi
Cycling: None
Swimming: None

I have really been enjoying mentoring for the Fleet Feet Fox Valley Winter Warriors program. I have rediscovered my love of running and has put everything in perspective. I have thought about where I started and how far I have come. My runs have turned into motivating others and just enjoying being outside. I have met some great individuals and they have inspired me to keep being positive and find the good in any situation. It has also kept me accountable and completing my runs every Thursday and Saturday.

My weekends have been full as well. The first weekend I went out to celebrate Sarah's birthday.

The second weekend I took my sister's older two kids out to Monkey Joe's in the afternoon to burn off some energy and treated them to some froyo. She was able to enjoy a peaceful house while the youngest was down for her nap.

Both Sundays I was at the bar watching the Packers playoff games, after I got my ride done in the morning though! That way I didn't feel so bad about drinking a few beers and eating some bar food.

This past weekend I ran the Icebreaker Half Marathon in Milwaukee and then headed down to IL to have a ladies weekend to celebrate my mother in law's birthday. We went out to Chicago Improv and had some good laughs, good food and some fun shopping. Now I have to put together what I bought at Ikea to help organize the house better!

I am looking forward to my job slowing down to have a bit more down time to be able to reflect on my progress and work on my goals. I also need to get a training plan set in stone for my HI (half Ironman) in June. I have been reviewing many different plans and I think I'm going to consolidate a few of the ideas together based on my abilities and working to better my cycling.

Week in Review

This past week was the start of my journey towards a Half Ironman, I was freaking out for several before and after I clicked submit on that registration! Coming off of being sick I eased into the week and tried to listen to my body without pushing it too hard.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 mile run with the Fleet Feet Fun run group, this one was freezing! I couldn't feel my fingers for about the first two miles, thankfully we turned away from the wind shortly after.

Wednesday: 13.3 mile ride on the trainer. Had the day off of work and was picking up and organizing the house as well. Nobody likes to start the new year off with a disgusting house. My husband and I were boring for New Years and stayed in, but we enjoyed a steak dinner with some green beans and baked potatoes.

Thursday: 2 runs this day. Run #1 NYD 3 mile run with the pacesetters and breakfast afterwards. This was brutally windy and we froze our butts off.
Run #2 Winter Warriors Group Workout - Pacing 4 mile run. Thankfully this was about 20 degrees warmer than this mornings run, so I of course overdressed. I felt tired going into it but once we got started I felt great. I used my extra energy to push my group to a solid 10:15 run, they weren't as enthused about it as I was!!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Winter Warriors Group Workout - Pacing 7 mile run. I woke up to the sound of snow plows, we finally have snow on the ground again! It was only about 2-3 inches but it made the run a little more challenging searching for the best footing. But it was beautiful out. We also passed the Pacesetters group run and I got to see more running buds!

Sunday: 13.60 mile ride on the trainer. Needed to get a long ride in, went for 45 minutes and that was all I could handle:

Things I did well this week:
1. I spent a few hours cooking on Sunday afternoon so I have homemade meals for the week.
2. I wrote down my training plan for the week and a few meals to make during the week
3. I cleaned up my house and I have kept it clean. Slowly trying to purge and organize and keep it that way!

This was boring I know, but part of what I missed with blogging was having a training log. It will also help me keep on target for future weeks.

Adios 2014

Hey everyone, I am back...for the time being anyways! I discovered I have missed tracking my progress and having a virtual diary of my races and major life happenings. I have some pretty lofty goals in my head and blogging helped me go through them the last time. I really wish I would have kept track in 2013 what my total mileages were, that was my best year of racing.

Alas, here is what I ended up this year which I found it aligns pretty closely to my 2012 figures.
Running: 640 miles
May was my marathon month and August was leading into my major half of the year.

Cycling: 359 miles
I did hit my most mileage ever in a month on my bike, I did something right in December!! Training for something big will make you do that.

Swimming: 20 miles
*no graph on this as it's only a few miles each month, although I tend to swim more in the winter. Explain that one!

This year had a number of ups and downs for me, but it has taught me a lot about myself and what I want out of life. It has solidified my relationship with my husband and I can really rely on him now. I have a hard time letting people fully in and letting go of myself, both of which he has helped me to get past.

I have met so many wonderful people through the running community, this year I participated in the Fleet Feet Half training program for speedwork and it was great being able to show up and have someone else tell me what to do! I heard through the grapevine they were looking for mentors for their Winter Warriors program and I jumped at the chance. I loved doing it before and I was able to push many people from our training program into signing up. Doing this always helps me find the joy in running again and thinking back to those milestones when I hit them. I was astounded to find out we had over 70 people in the program, the most ever yet!

This was from one of our track nights in summer having fun with the Brooks rep.

I also attended a fitness competition for the first time ever this year to support my SIL and my other trainer! They have helped to transform my body and how I think about it. This behemoth was the guest poser for the night.

I took some time away from triathlons this year, just did one super sprint) and I realized how much I miss them. Goals for 2015 are to get in some more of them and complete a half Ironman distance race. Hoping to also get in an Olympic distance and a sprint or two. Summer goes by too quickly to fit in more than that!

I would like to get a Ragnar Race in again this year and thinking about trying to get a team together, or ya know, just hop on a team again last minute!

Lots of races floating around in my head for this year and I need to get my goals and a race schedule planned out. Also I need to get back to following a training plan which I have been working at the last few weeks to get in a rhythm. Half Ironman training plan I am following begins late February.